Vows
October, 2002
When you read Ajaan Lee’s autobiography, you notice the number of times he made vows: vowing to sit all night, vowing to meditate so many hours, vowing to do this, vowing to do without that. The word for vow in Thai is “adhithaan,” which is also translated as determination. You make up your mind, you’re determined to do something. Making determinations like this gives strength to your practice. Otherwise you just sit and meditate for a while and when the going gets tough — “Well, that’s enough for today.” You don’t push your limits. As a result you don’t get a taste of what lies outside the limits of your expectations.